JENSON Button was still crawling around the house in nappies the last time his McLaren team went a season without a podium finish.

Now he is crawling around, in F1 terms, in a car which looks like managing what has not happened since 1980, when his predecessors Alain Prost and John Watson gained only 11 points from 14 races.

A spirit of supreme optimism kept Button in Formula One and helped make him world champion in 2009. And it is that quality which stops any cynicism flying his way when he says McLaren will get a place on the podium this year. Not a win. Simply a spot on one of the steps.

As teams prepare to shut their factories for two weeks, the Hungarian Grand Prix tomorrow is the mid-point in a season which is proving challenging for some of the greatest teams in F1 history.

McLaren and Williams, who have won 17 constructors’ championships and 19 drivers’ titles between them, have yet to send a man into the top four.

Button, 33, has had a fifth-place finish, his team-mate Sergio Perez a sixth. But Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas have not managed a top-10 finish between them.

We are making progress. If we can string it together over the weekend we can get a good result

Jenson Button

A win for them is a dream, but it might be the same for the rest of the grid if Sebastian Vettel continues his form and takes a third victory in four races.

Blame the cars rather than the drivers.

The move to last year’s tyres is not a welcome one for title contenders Ferrari and Lotus, but favours Red Bull, who look much more comfortable on the compound which took them to a double championship in 2012.

Red Bull were one-two in both practice sessions as the temperature hit 33C yesterday and is forecast to move close to 40C tomorrow.

Button was ninth yesterday, a place behind Kimi Raikkonen, who needs points here to maintain his title challenge – as does Lewis Hamilton in sixth and Fernando Alonso in fourth.

Extreme heat is like rain in F1 in causing things to happen: for men to make mistakes in and out of the car, for equipment to fail – and it would have to be something in that category to shake up the running order. Button’s heady fifth was in China in April when the talk was of McLaren turning their ugly duckling into a swan.

“Winning? No,” said Button candidly as he looked at the 10 remaining races. “We can fight for a podium at least.

“People might think, ‘Why the hell can you say that, your best result was fifth and you were sixth in Germany’. But I feel we are making progress. If we can string it together over the weekend we can get a good result. Here, it is all up in the air with the weather.”

Jenson Button with girlfriend Jessica Michibata as they arrive at the Hungaroring circuit in Mogyoro

McLaren have the best record at the Hungaroring with 11 wins, but history wins nothing in sport. Button won his first race here in 2006 after 113 starts in a topsy-turvy career but says: “I don’t think we are going to get a podium [this weekend]. We have to be realistic.

“Getting one win during the season is not important. I would rather fight for the championship next year than get a win this year and one win next year.

“We are concentrating more on 2014, but we are putting bits on this car which will help us for next year.”

So this year’s model is now a test bed for 2014? “It is not as though we are finishing with this car,” he said. “It is wrong just to focus on next year.”

Sensing too much doom, he added: “For the whole team it would be great to win a grand prix and we are going in the right direction. It has to be the goal.”

There are a variety of tracks, conditions and incidents to come and it would be crazy to write off McLaren getting a win. But their mid-term report card demands: ‘Must try harder’.